Martin County Jail Dispute A Question Of Securing Cash

STUART — The $2 million-plus worth of buildings in the heart of Stuart might otherwise be on prime real estate -- if they weren't in the secure perimeter of the Martin County Jail.

The 22,235 square feet of dormitory, vocational training offices and an outdoor pavilion are set to become vacant June 30th, after Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder declared bitterly in December he had to close the successful Juvenile Offender Training Center there because of the lack of state funding.

Despite the loss of the crime-prevention program serving youths across South Florida, Crowder proposed a future benefit by turning the boot-camp-style facility into a law enforcement, corrections and civilian training center, according to a letter to Martin County commissioners this week.

"It would serve a lot of needs," he said, such as office space for the ever-expanding jail staff and a running track with an obstacle course for deputies. Such a proposal would initially cost the county close to $800,000.

Commissioners are scheduled to talk about a plan at the next meeting.

The county owns the land at the sprawling complex at 800 SE Monterey Road where the center for troubled youth, the county jail and the sheriff's main office are located. Builders have already broken ground on the property for a new Emergency Operations Center that will house the Sheriff's Office and Fire-Rescue.

Within the barbed-wire fence of the jail, the state actually owns the buildings that make up the boot camp, academy and day-treatment program, but it leases the land from the county. That lease is up in June and the county would have to come up with at least $772,200 to buy the buildings. Other options would be to have the state tear down the structures or allow the state a new lease for another program, both unlikely scenarios.

"If we could come up with good use of the facility, I can't see us tearing down $2 million worth of buildings to save $700,000," said Taryn Kryzda, county director of administrative services.

Politics and funding aside, Crowder made it clear he still believes in the juvenile program itself.

"I think the best use, social use for that building, the best for our society ... would be to use it for the highly effective juvenile program we've been doing in there," he said.

Amid a now projected $750,000 shortfall, Crowder announced last December the center would close if the Department of Juvenile Justice refused to budget recurring money for the program.

"Between the under-funding and the micromanaging, the State of Florida is a miserable failure on juvenile justice," he said.

The 63 youths in the program as of Friday were set to graduate or be moved into other state programs. Much of the staff has already found jobs and Crowder said he intended to keep others in his agency.

State Rep. Joe Negron has said he will procure funding as long as the sheriff wants to keep the center open. But another last-minute deal wouldn't solve the long-term funding dilemma, Crowder said, because neither he nor the center's trainers and volunteers would toil in uncertainty each year.

"If they said they had the money, I'd say, `Good, you come down and run it and bring your own staff,'" Crowder said.